


A Thousand Words

by EHyde



Series: artist!Shin-ah [1]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3815998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EHyde/pseuds/EHyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoon realizes that Shin-Ah has never learned to read, and takes it upon himself to teach him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Thousand Words

“Shin-Ah and I are going to go scout ahead.”

“All right, don’t go too far!”

Yoon pulled out the party’s map and followed Shin-Ah up the path. They were back in Fire Tribe lands, arid and empty. “We should be coming to another village soon.” Shin-Ah nodded in confirmation as they rounded a hill. “You can see it? Great! We should get there by evening, then.” Hopefully it would be well-off enough that they could buy supplies.

Shin-Ah shook his head. “Ah … the gate is closed. There are soldiers …”

“That’s … weird.” Very strange indeed, for a town to shut its gates in the middle of the day. “Ok, we’ll have to go around, and stop for supplies in the next village.” Though Yona would want to investigate …

“The soldiers … Tae-Jun’s. And — there’s a sign on the gate.”

“Can you make out what it says?” If he could make out the faces of the soldiers at this distance … but Shin-Ah shook his head. “Right, we’ll have to get closer.” Shin-Ah stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder, then bent down and began tracing out letters in the dirt. “That’s a quarantine notice …” Realization hit him. “Shin-Ah, you don’t know how to read?” The blue dragon shook his head. “Do you want to learn?”

—

They returned to the others and reported on what they’d found. “If Tae-Jun’s troops are managing the quarantine, I’m not worried,” said Yoon. “But I’d like to see if they need any more medicine.” The others agreed to briefly stop at the village gates, then go on. It was a couple more days before they came to the next town.

“All right, the dragons can stay in camp. We don’t want to attract too much attention.” Not that that ever worked. Fortunately, their trip into town to get supplies seemed to actually be going quickly for once. Yoon noticed a bookshop on his way back from the herbalist’s.  _I wonder_  … He stepped inside. This was … actually a pretty good selection for a town this size.

“Oh, Yoon, there you are!” He turned at Yona’s voice. She was standing in the doorway with Hak. “You’re finally buying more books? Ik-Su would be happy!”

“Actually, I’m buying a book for Shin-Ah.”

“Huh? For Shin-Ah?”

“I didn’t know he liked books,” said Hak.

“He … doesn’t.” Yoon explained how he’d found out that the blue dragon had never learned to read. “And it’s … I was alone, a lot, growing up. But I always had books. I mean, not very many, but they were always there. They helped me remember there was more to the world than what I —”

“So Shin-Ah asked you to teach him?”

“Well … no. I asked if he wanted to learn, and he didn’t answer, but I got the impression …” Actually, the blue dragon had practically run away from him, but …

“That’s great, Yoon!”

“Don’t you have books already, though?” Hak asked.

“Well, they’re all books about medicine, so they’re no good for a beginner.”

“I’ve seen Jae-Ha with books,” said Yona.

“Those are definitely no good,” said Hak.

“So what are you getting?”

“Well …” Yoon showed them the book he had in his hands.

“The legend of the four dragons?” Hak asked. “Hasn’t he gotten enough of that from Kija?”

“It’s a children’s book,” explained Yoon. “So it’ll be easier …”

Hak pulled a different book down from the shelf. “You should get this one.”

“A book of sword techniques? Shin-Ah knows how to use a sword.”

“It’s by one of the most famous swordsmen in history.”

Yona grabbed the book from Hak. “I’ll help Shin-Ah read this one,” she said. Hak sighed.

“You can buy whatever you want for Shin-Ah,” said Yoon. “I’m getting this one though.”

Yona perked up. “I want to choose a book for Shin-Ah, too!” She furrowed her brow, peering at the shelves. “Oh, I remember this …”

“Princess, if I recall correctly, you hated that book.”

She laughed. “I did, didn’t I? I got so bored when my tutors made me read poetry … how many ways do you really need to be able to say that the sky is pretty, or the ocean is blue? But somehow, I think that Shin-Ah will …”

In the end, they bought all three books, plus paper, ink, and a brush. No sense learning to read without learning to write at the same time, Yoon thought.

—

_So when do I bring this up?_  Shin-Ah was the only one in the group who couldn’t read — would he be embarrassed if Yoon brought that up in front of everyone?  _Well, I would be if it were me, but …_  He didn’t want Shin-Ah to run away again, was the thing. So he waited till they had a moment to themselves, which wasn’t till after dinner. “Here,” he said, thrusting the package into Shin-Ah’s hands. “These are for you. I’ll teach you to read.” There, that wouldn’t give the dragon a chance to say no.

“You … for me?”

“Only this one’s from me, the others are from Hak and Yona. We all picked books we thought you’d like. But you have to start with the basics.” Shin-Ah nodded and reached for the paper and brush. “Though it’s getting kind of dark tonight …” He’d waited too long, hadn’t he? The blue dragon tilted his head to one side. “Too dark for me, anyway,” Yoon amended. “I guess you don’t have any trouble seeing in the dark, do you? Ik-Su was always telling me not to read by candlelight,” he went on after Shin-Ah nodded. “Warning me I’d go blind, like  _he_  had any business worrying about  _my_  health!” He paused. It wasn’t  _that_  dark. “You’ve got really good distance vision, so … you don’t have any trouble focusing up close, do you?” Shin-Ah just looked confused.  _Heh. Probably doesn’t have any idea what ‘trouble focusing’ even means_  … “Your eyes are pretty amazing, all right. Ok, so, I’ll just teach you to write your name tonight, and in the morning we can go further.”

Yoon left Shin-Ah to practice, making his way back to the small tent that he and Yona shared. As he was about to turn in, he glanced back at the blue dragon in time to see Shin-Ah lift his mask and gaze towards the sky, then back at the paper in front of him. _Huh._

—

Next morning, Yoon awoke to find that Shin-Ah had already started preparing breakfast.  _I guess this is his way of saying thanks._  Which was certainly appreciated.  _Shin-Ah still hardly speaks a word. I couldn’t tell if learning to read was something he really wanted or just … me wanting to feel like I had something more to offer._  Yoon pushed that thought aside; the group obviously wouldn’t last two days without him.  _But if he’s helping cook …_  Yoon smiled.

After breakfast, Shin-Ah pressed a rolled-up piece of paper into Yoon’s hand. “Hm? This is …” He unrolled it, expecting to see more of the childlike-but-earnest handwriting he had coached last night. Instead it was — “A painting?” It was a landscape, and a really beautiful one, though there was something strange around it. It was more realistic, more natural, than other paintings he had seen, but at the same time somehow more surreal. The perspective was … he was still trying to wrap his brain around it when it clicked.

Shin-Ah held out his new book, open to the first page. “Now … you can show me what you see.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm [fallenwithstyle](http://fallenwithstyle.tumblr.com) on tumblr if you'd like to come say hi.


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